‘Lunch of suffering’: ‘White people food’ is trending in China

The phenomenon was brought to Westerners’ attention by Lee Twodog, who runs a TikTok series documenting what is trending in China.

She explained the trend in a viral video.

“‘Bai wren fan’, which translates to ‘white people food’. It’s getting really popular and people are sharing their recipes,” Lee said in the clip, which has been viewed more than 300,000 times.

Lee says the “spirit of white people food” means food that has no “spice or feeling”.

“White people food is supposed to be unenjoyable,” she says.

She adds that while the food is boring it is nutritional and will give you the energy to work throughout the afternoon.

Chinese blogs and social media sites are awash with people trying the trend.

“The point of the white people’s meal is to learn what it feels like to be dead, but I’ve taken two bites and it was so bad it made me realise how alive I am,” wrote one Weibo user who tried a serving of plain crackers, cheese, and ham.

“Ah, the intoxicating white people’s meal,” wrote another, posting a photo of sliced tomatoes and a banana.

The trend, Lee said, has been adopted by Chinese people who want to separate work from life by having boring food at lunch followed by exciting meals when they get home.

“The idea of having bai wren fan is only for work days during lunch, so having these tasteless foods helps you to separate work from life,” she said.

“The idea is, when you get off work, you go back to eat your normal food and you feel the life come back,” she explained.

“What do you feel about it?” Lee probed her followers.

Lee’s video was set to a background of screenshots from Chinese social media platform Weibo, on which people are sharing their recipes for classic white people food.

Included were raw spinach salads, ham and what appeared to be cream cheese on a slice of white bread, raw celery sticks with dressing and boiled eggs in plastic containers.

Several images of cheese and cracker snack packs — similar to Aussies’ beloved LeSnak — were also shown.

The meals have even been called the “lunch of suffering” by some media outlets, quoting a viral Weibo post, but Lee said the nickname was a mistranslation.

“There is no suffering,” she explained in a comment on her video.

“The suffering refers to work. Many reflect this is healthy, just needs extra effort to get used to.”

Commenters were thrilled by Lee’s analysis and said they found the “white people food” trend hilarious.

“This trend genuinely brings me joy. It’s so funny,” one person wrote.

“The cup of spinach with a single hard boiled egg is sending me over the edge,” said another.

“White American here; this feels spot on. I’ll put time into making my breakfast or dinner, but I don’t have that time for lunches. It’s survival food,” noted a third.